The short answer: the Meta ads creative size to plan around is 4:5 at 1440 x 1800 pixels for Facebook and Instagram Feed, and 9:16 at 1440 x 2560 pixels for Stories and Reels. Carousels and collections still run on square 1:1 images at 1080 x 1080 or larger. Images can be up to 30MB as JPG or PNG, and videos up to 4GB as MP4 or MOV.
That covers the upload. It doesn't cover what decides whether an ad looks sharp or sloppy: safe zones, text limits, crops Meta makes on its own, and how you produce every size without three times the work. This guide gives you the current specs, checked against Meta's own Ads Guide, plus the production plan we use at XMA to ship every size from one master.
Meta Ads Creative Size at a Glance
If you only need the numbers, this table is the one to bookmark. It reflects Meta's Ads Guide as we checked it in October 2026. Meta updates these pages without much notice, so confirm the latest figures in Ads Manager's preview before a big launch.
- Facebook Feed (image): Aspect ratio: 4:5; Recommended size: 1440 x 1800 px; Max file size: 30MB; File types: JPG, PNG
- Instagram Feed (image): Aspect ratio: 4:5 (1.91:1 to 4:5 accepted); Recommended size: 1440 x 1800 px; Max file size: 30MB; File types: JPG, PNG
- Facebook Feed (video): Aspect ratio: 4:5; Recommended size: 1440 x 1800 px; Max file size: 4GB; File types: MP4, MOV, GIF
- Facebook and Instagram Stories: Aspect ratio: 9:16; Recommended size: 1440 x 2560 px; Max file size: 30MB image, 4GB video; File types: JPG, PNG, MP4, MOV
- Instagram Reels (video): Aspect ratio: 9:16; Recommended size: 1440 x 2560 px; Max file size: 4GB; File types: MP4, MOV
- Carousel (per card): Aspect ratio: 1:1; Recommended size: At least 1080 x 1080 px; Max file size: 30MB image, 4GB video; File types: JPG, PNG, MP4, MOV, GIF
- Collection cover: Aspect ratio: 1.91:1 to 1:1; Recommended size: At least 1080 x 1080 px; Max file size: 30MB image, 4GB video; File types: JPG, PNG, MP4, MOV, GIF
Three ratios do almost all the work: 9:16, 4:5 and 1:1. If you produce those three masters well, you can cover nearly every Meta placement that matters for performance.
Why Meta Now Recommends 1440 Pixels
For years, most spec sheets listed 1080 x 1080, 1080 x 1350 and 1080 x 1920. Those sizes still upload and still look fine on most phones. Meta's own guide, however, now recommends 1440 x 1800 for 4:5 and 1440 x 2560 for 9:16.
The reason is simple. Phone screens have more pixels than they did, and Meta compresses every upload. Starting from a larger file gives the compression more detail to work with, so text edges, product labels and skin texture survive better.
Here's how we treat it in practice:
- New productions: export at 1440 wide. It costs nothing extra if the source footage or AI generation is high enough resolution.
- Existing 1080 assets: don't upscale them just to hit 1440. A soft upscale looks worse than a clean 1080 file.
- AI-generated video: many video models output at 1080p or below. Generate at the highest setting the model offers, then decide whether a careful upscale actually improves the result on a phone.
The minimums are far lower than the recommendations. Facebook Feed images need at least 600 pixels wide, and Instagram Feed images at least 500 pixels. Hitting a minimum only means the upload is accepted. It doesn't mean the ad will look good.
Image Ad Sizes by Placement
Image ads are still useful for offers, catalog-style creative and quick tests. The size rules are straightforward once you know which placement you're designing for.
Facebook and Instagram Feed
Feed is where most image budgets go. Meta recommends 4:5 at 1440 x 1800 pixels for both Facebook and Instagram Feed.
Why 4:5 instead of square? A vertical 4:5 image takes up more of the phone screen as someone scrolls. More screen means more attention before the thumb moves on. Square 1:1 still works and is a safe choice when one image has to serve Feed, carousels and the desktop right column.
Key limits from Meta's guide:
- File types: JPG or PNG
- Max file size: 30MB
- Minimum width: 600 pixels on Facebook Feed, 500 pixels on Instagram Feed
- Accepted range on Instagram Feed: from 1.91:1 (wide) to 4:5 (tall)
- Aspect ratio tolerance: 3% on Facebook Feed, 1% on Instagram Feed
That tolerance matters more than people expect. If your file is slightly off ratio, say 1440 x 1830, Meta may crop or pad it. Export at the exact numbers.
One more note: some Meta pages state that 4:5 isn't available for every desktop placement, and that ads using certain stock images only support 1.91:1. If you run desktop-heavy B2B campaigns, preview the desktop Feed before you launch.
Stories
Stories fill the whole phone screen, so 9:16 is the only ratio worth designing for. Meta recommends 1440 x 2560 pixels for Story images, with a minimum width of 500 pixels and a 1% aspect ratio tolerance.
Story images have a built-in limitation: they don't move. A still image in a full-screen, sound-on, tap-forward environment has to work much harder than a video. We use Story images for simple offer announcements, event reminders and retargeting, and video for nearly everything else.
The top and bottom of every Story are covered by the interface: the profile name at the top and the reply bar and call-to-action button at the bottom. More on exact safe zones below.
Reels
Reels are video-first, but Meta lets image ads appear there too when you use Advantage+ placements. If you supply only a 4:5 image, Meta may display it with blurred or colored padding in a 9:16 frame. It works, but it looks like an afterthought.
If Reels inventory is part of your plan, give it a native 9:16 asset. Even a simple motion version of your image (a slow push-in, a product rotation, text appearing in sequence) usually fits the placement far better than a static file.
Right Column, Search and Marketplace
These smaller placements rarely get their own creative, and that's usually fine. Right column ads appear on desktop Facebook only and display at a small size. Search results and Marketplace ads typically reuse your Feed assets.
Our approach is to make sure the square or 4:5 Feed version reads well when shrunk to thumbnail size. That means a clear focal subject, high contrast and little or no text on the image. Text that's readable on a phone in Feed becomes unreadable at right-column size.
Video Ad Specs: Resolution, Length, Codecs and File Limits
Most Meta performance spend now goes to video, and video has more ways to go wrong than images. Here are the specs that decide whether a file uploads cleanly and plays sharply.
Feed Video
Meta recommends 4:5 at 1440 x 1800 pixels for Facebook Feed video. The technical limits are generous:
- File types: MP4, MOV or GIF
- Length: 1 second up to 241 minutes
- Max file size: 4GB
- Minimum size: 120 x 120 pixels
Generous limits don't mean long videos are a good idea. In our experience, Feed ads that win usually make their point in the first few seconds and wrap up well under a minute. The 241-minute ceiling is there for publishers, not for direct-response ads.
Stories and Reels Video
Both run on 9:16 at 1440 x 2560 pixels. The details differ a little by placement:
- File types: Facebook Stories video: MP4, MOV, GIF; Instagram Reels video: MP4, MOV
- Aspect ratio: Facebook Stories video: 9:16; Instagram Reels video: 9:16
- Recommended size: Facebook Stories video: 1440 x 2560 px; Instagram Reels video: 1440 x 2560 px
- Minimum width: Facebook Stories video: 250 px; Instagram Reels video: 250 px under 30 seconds, 500 px for 30 seconds or longer
- Length: Facebook Stories video: 1 second to 3 minutes; Instagram Reels video: Up to 15 minutes
- Max file size: Facebook Stories video: 4GB; Instagram Reels video: 4GB
On Facebook Stories, videos under 15 seconds play in full. Longer videos are split into multiple cards, and viewers see a prompt to keep watching. That's a strong reason to keep Story ads at 15 seconds or less, or to make sure the first 15 seconds tell the whole story.
Meta's guide for Instagram Reels ads also lists things to avoid: licensed music, face or camera effects, GIFs, product tags and edit lists inside the file. If you've built a Reel in an app with trending sounds, re-export it with licensed or original audio before you run it as an ad.
Export Settings That Prevent Upload Problems
Meta's Ads Guide lists the same technical settings for its video placements. We build them into every export preset:
- Codec: H.264 compression.
- Pixels: square pixels (no anamorphic stretch).
- Frame rate: fixed, not variable. Phone footage often records at a variable frame rate, which can cause sync problems after upload.
- Scan: progressive, not interlaced.
- Audio: stereo AAC at 128kbps or higher.
- Container: no edit lists or special boxes in the file container. In plain terms, export a clean, flattened file rather than uploading a project or a file trimmed in place.
Two more habits help. First, export at a high bitrate, because Meta re-compresses everything and you want headroom. Second, watch your exported file on a phone before uploading, not just on a desktop monitor. Problems with small text and dark scenes show up on the phone first.
Carousel and Collection Ad Sizes
Carousels and collections let you show several products or steps in one ad. They're also where size mistakes are most visible, because cards sit side by side.
Carousel Ads
Meta's carousel specs, as listed for Facebook Feed:
- Cards: 2 to 10
- Aspect ratio: 1:1
- Recommended size: at least 1080 x 1080 pixels
- Image files: JPG or PNG, up to 30MB each
- Video files: MP4, MOV or GIF, up to 4GB each, 1 second to 240 minutes
- Landing page URL: required
Every card should use the same ratio. Mixed ratios force Meta to crop, and a carousel where one card is cropped differently looks broken.
Carousels also have tight text limits per card, which we cover in the text section below. Design each card so the image tells its part of the story without needing the headline.
A carousel technique we like for product launches: design one wide image and slice it into square cards, so the image continues as people swipe. If you do this, keep important details away from the slice lines. A product cut in half between two cards isn't a good look.
Collection Ads
A collection ad shows a cover image or video with three product images underneath. Tapping it opens an Instant Experience, a full-screen page inside the app. Meta lists an Instant Experience as required for this format.
Specs from Meta's guide:
- Cover ratio: 1.91:1 to 1:1
- Cover size: at least 1080 x 1080 pixels
- Cover files: JPG or PNG up to 30MB, or MP4, MOV or GIF up to 4GB
- Product images: three, pulled from your catalog
The product images come from your product catalog, so their quality depends on your catalog photos. A sharp cover video above blurry, inconsistent product shots undermines the whole ad. Clean up catalog images before you scale collection spend.
Safe Zones: Where Meta's Interface Covers Your Creative
Getting the size right is only half the job. On Stories and Reels, the interface sits on top of your creative. The profile name, captions, buttons and call-to-action all cover part of the frame. Put your headline or logo in the wrong spot and nobody sees it.
The Stories and Reels Safe Zone
Meta's guide for Instagram Stories and Reels asks you to keep about 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom and 6% of each side free of text, logos and key creative elements.
On a 1440 x 2560 frame, that works out to roughly:
- Top: Share of frame: 14%; Approximate pixels at 1440 x 2560: About 358 px from the top
- Bottom: Share of frame: 35%; Approximate pixels at 1440 x 2560: About 896 px from the bottom
- Left and right: Share of frame: 6% each; Approximate pixels at 1440 x 2560: About 86 px from each side
That leaves a central area of roughly 1268 x 1306 pixels for anything that must be read. It's smaller than most designers expect. The bottom 35% is the big one, because that's where Reels shows the caption, the audio line, the like and comment buttons, and your call-to-action.
Meta's Facebook Stories video page gives a slightly different figure: about 14% (250 pixels) at the top and 20% (340 pixels) at the bottom, measured on a 1080 x 1920 frame. We design to the stricter Reels zone, because the same 9:16 asset usually runs in both placements.
Feed Safe Areas
Feed has no official safe-zone percentages, but two things cover your creative. Above the image, the primary text gets cut off with a "more" link after a couple of lines. Below it, the headline and call-to-action button sit in the footer.
The footer can also disappear. Meta notes that with the Awareness objective, or performance goals such as maximizing reach, the ad footer may not show on Facebook Feed mobile. If your offer lives only in the headline, it may never be seen. Put the key message in the creative itself.
How We Build Safe Zones Into Production
We don't trust anyone, ourselves included, to eyeball safe zones. Here's the process we use:
- Build a transparent overlay at 1440 x 2560 that marks the top 14%, bottom 35% and side 6%.
- Load it as the top layer in every 9:16 edit and design file.
- Keep subtitles, offer lines, logos and product names inside the clear center area.
- Let faces, product hero shots and movement fill the whole frame, because partial cover on a background is fine.
- Before export, turn the overlay off and preview the ad in Ads Manager on an actual phone.
Step five matters. Ads Manager previews show how the interface sits on your creative, and they catch issues an overlay can miss.
Text Limits: Primary Text, Headlines and Text on the Image
Character limits are the other half of the Meta ads creative size question. They aren't hard upload limits in most cases, but text beyond them gets cut off.
Meta's recommended ranges vary by placement:
- Facebook Feed: Primary text: 50 to 150 characters; Headline: 27 characters; Other: None
- Instagram Feed: Primary text: Up to 125 characters; Headline: Up to 40 characters; Other: Up to 30 hashtags
- Stories: Primary text: Up to 125 characters; Headline: Up to 40 characters; Other: None
- Carousel (per card): Primary text: 80 characters; Headline: 20 characters; Other: Description 18 characters
- Collection: Primary text: 125 characters; Headline: 40 characters; Other: None
Our rule is to write the first 125 characters of primary text as if nothing after them exists. The hook, the benefit and the reason to tap all go up front. Anything after that is a bonus for the few who tap "more".
Text on the Image
Meta used to reject or limit images where text covered more than 20% of the frame. That hard rule is gone, but the logic behind it hasn't changed. Meta still recommends keeping text on images short, and heavy text tends to hurt delivery and attention.
In practice, we follow three rules:
- One idea per frame. A short headline or offer line, not a paragraph.
- Big enough to read on a phone in a scroll. If you have to zoom in to read it, so does everyone else.
- Inside the safe zone. On 9:16, text in the bottom third is covered.
For video, burned-in captions are the exception. Most people scroll with sound off, so captions do real work. Keep them in the safe zone, two lines at most, and high contrast.
The Three-Master Production Plan: One Shoot, Every Placement
This is the part most spec guides skip, and it's where teams lose the most time. Knowing the sizes is easy. Producing every size without reshooting, redesigning or ending up with awkward crops takes a plan.
We build every Meta concept from three masters: 9:16, 4:5 and 1:1. Here's how each one is made and where it runs.
The 9:16 Master
The vertical master is the main event. It runs in Stories, Reels and, increasingly, Feed. We plan the concept around it first, because it's the hardest frame to fill well and the one where safe zones bite hardest.
What that means on set or in an AI prompt:
- Frame the subject in the vertical center, with room above the head for the top 14% zone.
- Keep the key action in the middle of the frame, not low down where the 35% bottom zone sits.
- Plan where captions will go before the shoot, so nothing important ends up behind them.
The 4:5 Master
The 4:5 version is a crop of the vertical frame, not a separate production. Cutting a 1440 x 2560 frame to 1440 x 1800 removes 760 pixels of height, so about 30% of the vertical frame is lost.
This is why composition matters. If the subject sits in the center and the top and bottom of the vertical frame hold only background or caption space, the 4:5 crop falls out naturally. If the product sits in the bottom third of your 9:16 shot, the 4:5 version loses it.
The 4:5 edit also gets its own caption layout. Feed has no 35% bottom zone, so captions can sit lower, and text can be a touch smaller because the frame is smaller on screen.
The 1:1 Master
The square master feeds carousels, collection covers, the right column and any placement that only takes square. It's the tightest crop, so we check it last and fix it by hand when the automatic crop misses.
Shooting and Generating for the Crop
A few habits make the three-master plan work:
- Shoot wider than you need. A little extra space around the subject gives you room to reframe each ratio.
- Keep the hero in the center third. All three ratios share the center of the frame.
- Avoid key detail near the edges. Hands, product labels and text near the frame edge get cut first.
- Record or generate at the highest resolution available. Cropping 4:5 and 1:1 from 9:16 throws away pixels, so start with as many as you can.
- Name files by ratio and placement. For example, concept-hook2-9x16-reels.mp4. It saves real time when you're uploading 30 variants.
For AI-generated video, the same rules go into the prompt. We specify a vertical frame, a centered subject and clean space at the top and bottom. Then we review each generation against the safe-zone overlay before it moves to editing. We cover this kind of workflow in more depth in our guide to AI video ads for Meta and TikTok.
How Meta Handles Mismatched Sizes
What happens if you upload one size and run it everywhere? Meta doesn't reject most mismatched creative. It adapts it, and the results range from fine to poor.
Automatic Crops and Padding
With Advantage+ placements, Meta can show one asset across Feed, Stories, Reels and smaller placements. If the asset doesn't match a placement's ratio, Meta crops it, adds padding or, in some cases, expands the background.
A 4:5 image in Stories might appear with a blurred or colored band above and below. A 9:16 video in Feed may be cropped to 4:5. Those automatic changes are fine for a quick test. For a scaled campaign, they leave performance on the table, because the ad doesn't look native to where it runs.
Placement Asset Customization
The better route is to supply a specific asset for each placement group. In Ads Manager, when you set up an ad with Advantage+ placements, you can choose different media for Feeds and for Stories and Reels.
This is where the three-master plan pays off. You upload the 4:5 master for Feeds, the 9:16 master for Stories and Reels, and Meta serves the right one in each placement. Same concept, same copy, native look everywhere.
Creative Enhancements
Meta also offers automatic creative enhancements, which can include adjusting aspect ratio, adding music or applying visual touch-ups. The names and defaults change often, so check what's switched on in the ad setup screen before you publish.
Our view: these features are useful for speed, but review what they produce. An automatic expansion that invents a background can look odd next to a real product shot. If brand control matters, turn off the enhancements you don't want and supply proper assets instead.
Sized Variants at Volume: AI, Bilingual Copy and the Dubai Market
Size planning gets harder as volume grows. A single concept with three hooks, three ratios and two languages is already 18 files. Testing several concepts a month multiplies that fast.
Where AI Speeds Up Sizing
This is where an AI video production team earns its keep. AI tools help in three practical ways:
- Generating native vertical footage instead of forcing a horizontal shoot into 9:16.
- Extending backgrounds so a tight 4:5 shot can become a clean 9:16 frame without visible padding.
- Producing hook and language variants at the same size, so each one only needs a quick edit check.
Where AI still loses: fine product detail, legible packaging text and precise brand colors. A generated frame that looks fine at 1080 can show warped labels at 1440. We keep real product footage or 3D renders for hero shots and use AI for scenes, people and variants. Our comparison of AI video generators for brand ads covers which tools hold up for on-brand work.
Arabic and Bilingual Creative
For Dubai and wider GCC campaigns, many ads run in both Arabic and English. That changes your layout.
Arabic reads right to left, so text blocks, arrows and the visual flow of a frame usually need to be mirrored, not just translated. Arabic text also tends to need more vertical space per line, depending on the font, so a caption that fits in two English lines may need three in Arabic.
Practical rules we use for bilingual sets:
- Design the Arabic version as its own layout, not a text swap on the English file.
- Check Arabic captions against the 35% bottom zone again, because the extra line pushes them down.
- Keep logos and product names in a position that works in both reading directions, usually the center.
- Test Arabic and English versions as separate ads, so you can see which language drives results for each audience.
If you're producing for the UAE market specifically, our guide to AI video production in Dubai covers timelines and how to choose a partner.
What Drives the Cost of Producing Every Size
XMA doesn't publish prices, and we won't guess at market rates here. What we can tell you is what drives the effort behind a full Meta size set:
- Number of concepts and hooks. Each new idea needs its own masters.
- How many ratios are planned from the start. Planning three masters up front is far cheaper in time than recutting a horizontal edit later.
- Languages. A bilingual set roughly doubles the layout and review work.
- Source footage. Real product shoots take longer to schedule; AI-generated scenes are faster to iterate.
If you want an estimate for your own campaign, the fastest route is to book a strategy call and get a quote based on your concepts and volume.
Troubleshooting Meta Ad Size Problems
When something goes wrong with a Meta creative, it's usually one of a handful of issues. Here's how we diagnose them.
Blurry or Soft Images
Likely cause: the file was small to begin with, upscaled, or saved with heavy compression.
Fix: export from the original design file at 1440 wide, as PNG for graphics with text or high-quality JPG for photos. Don't run a file through several apps that each re-compress it.
Important Content Cropped
Likely cause: the ratio didn't match the placement, so Meta cropped it, or the file sat outside the aspect ratio tolerance.
Fix: export at exact ratios, such as 1440 x 1800 for 4:5, rather than near misses. Use placement asset customization so each placement gets its own version.
Text Covered by Buttons or Captions
Likely cause: text was placed in the top 14% or bottom 35% of a 9:16 frame.
Fix: move it into the safe area using an overlay, then preview on a phone in Ads Manager.
Video Upload Fails or Audio Drifts Out of Sync
Likely cause: variable frame rate footage, unusual codecs or edit lists in the file container.
Fix: re-export with H.264, a fixed frame rate, progressive scan and stereo AAC audio at 128kbps or higher. A clean export from your editing software usually solves it.
Reels Ad Rejected or Limited
Likely cause: licensed music, in-app effects or product tags carried over from an organic Reel.
Fix: rebuild the audio with original or properly licensed tracks and export a clean file without in-app effects.
Meta Ads Creative Size Pre-Launch Checklist
Run this before every launch:
- Each concept has a 9:16 master, a 4:5 master and, if needed, a 1:1 master.
- Every file matches its ratio exactly (for example, 1440 x 1800 or 1440 x 2560).
- Images are under 30MB, videos under 4GB, in JPG, PNG, MP4 or MOV.
- Text, logos and offers sit inside the 14% top, 35% bottom and 6% side safe zones on 9:16.
- Primary text puts the hook in the first 125 characters, and headlines fit the placement limit.
- Video exports use H.264, a fixed frame rate and stereo AAC audio.
- Reels files have no licensed music or in-app effects.
- Placement asset customization assigns the right master to Feeds and to Stories and Reels.
- Creative enhancements you don't want are switched off.
- You've previewed every placement on a real phone.
Want to see how this looks in finished ads? See our AI video portfolio for vertical, feed and square work across categories.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best Meta ads creative size in 2026?
For most campaigns, plan on two core sizes: 4:5 at 1440 x 1800 pixels for Facebook and Instagram Feed, and 9:16 at 1440 x 2560 pixels for Stories and Reels. Add a 1:1 version at 1080 x 1080 or larger for carousels and collections. These three ratios cover nearly every Meta placement that matters for performance, and they let Meta serve a native-looking asset in each one.
Is 1080 x 1920 still OK for Meta Stories and Reels?
Yes. A 1080 x 1920 file is the same 9:16 ratio and uploads without problems. Meta now recommends 1440 x 2560 because a larger file holds detail better after compression. For new productions, export at 1440 wide if your source allows it. For existing 1080 assets, don't upscale them, because a soft upscale usually looks worse than a clean 1080 file.
What is the maximum file size for Meta ads?
Meta's Ads Guide lists 30MB for image ads in JPG or PNG and 4GB for video ads in MP4 or MOV. Feed video can run from 1 second up to 241 minutes, Facebook Stories video up to 3 minutes and Instagram Reels ads up to 15 minutes. For performance ads, shorter is almost always better, and a high-bitrate export keeps quality after Meta compresses the file.
What are the safe zones for Instagram Reels and Stories ads?
Meta recommends keeping about 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom and 6% of each side free from text, logos and key elements. On a 1440 x 2560 frame, that's roughly 358 pixels at the top, 896 at the bottom and 86 on each side. The interface covers those areas with the profile name, captions, buttons and the call-to-action.
Can I use one creative size for all Meta placements?
You can, and Meta will crop or pad it to fit each placement. It works for quick tests but often looks unnatural, such as a 4:5 image with blurred bands in Stories. For scaled campaigns, upload a 4:5 asset for Feeds and a 9:16 asset for Stories and Reels using placement asset customization, so each placement shows a version made for it.
Does Meta still have the 20% text rule?
No. Meta no longer rejects ads for having more than 20% text on the image. It still recommends keeping on-image text short, because text-heavy creative tends to get less attention. Keep one short idea per frame, make it large enough to read while scrolling, and place it inside the safe zone. Burned-in captions on video are worth it, since many people watch without sound.
Get Every Size Right the First Time
Meta ads creative size comes down to three ratios, current resolutions and the discipline to keep text out of the interface's way. Get those right and your ads look native everywhere they run. Get them wrong and even a strong concept looks cheap.
At XMA, we plan every concept as 9:16, 4:5 and 1:1 masters from day one, with Arabic and English layouts built for the safe zones. We pair AI production with a human creative team, so you get volume without losing brand control.
Ready for ads that fit every placement? Book a strategy call and get a quote for your next campaign. For more practical guides, browse the XMA blog.
